


Surreptitious

by apathyinreverie



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Domestic Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Fluff, Gen, Humor, M/M, Married Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:49:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24885628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apathyinreverie/pseuds/apathyinreverie
Summary: Alec doesn’t like the taste of alcohol.So, of course Magnus has taken it upon himself to make sure his husband’s drinks are always to his taste. Sneakily.
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Comments: 82
Kudos: 488





	Surreptitious

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Intangibel (duskbutterfly)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/duskbutterfly/gifts).



> Based on **Intangibel’s** tags on a gif set I saw on tumblr and simply couldn’t resist.

The Hunter’s Moon is loud, the crowd lively, music playing, creatures of various races gathered together as they enjoy a Friday night out.

Magnus leans back in his seat, grinning slightly to himself, amused at the definitely-not-entirely-sober group currently surrounding him at one of the tables. It’s their usual group, Alexander sitting beside him, his siblings and their respective significant others already happily on their way to getting themselves drunk.

Simon is actually the furthest along, having started with plasma shots right off the bat and by now too far gone to tell Isabelle to stop ordering him more, while Clary is well into the giggly phase of being drunk, with Jace smiling at her dopily.

Magnus’ smile tilts into something even warmer, glancing over at Alexander when he feels his husband curling their hands a little tighter together, fingers intertwined and resting on Magnus’ knee under the table, his thumb running softly over his husband’s knuckles.

Alexander who has been drinking slowly but steadily, matching his siblings drink for drink but still just as sober as when this night started.

A fact that apparently hasn’t gone unnoticed.

“How come you are the only one who isn’t drunk yet?” Jace is asking Alexander at the moment, speech not quite slurred but gaining that overly enunciated edge that people who are trying to hide how affected they are by their drinks tend to inject into their own speech.

Alexander raises an eyebrow and gives a significant glance at Magnus, clearly pointing out his matched state of definitely-still-sober.

Jace immediately waves him off. “Magnus doesn’t count. He’s had centuries to build up his tolerance. But you only started drinking _last year_. So, how come I’ve never seen you actually drunk before?”

Beside him, Alexander just shrugs. “Maybe I’m just not as much of a lightweight as you?”

Magnus doesn’t even bother to hide his amused grin at the deadpan slight against Jace’s drinking abilities.

“Oooh,” Clary injects an almost-comment as well, teasing and humorous, eyes bright from where she is leaning heavily into Izzy’s side.

“Hmpf,” Jace scoffs with a frown. “There is _no way_ you can drink more than me.”

“Perish the thought,” Magnus intones dramatically, endlessly entertained by the Shadowhunters around him and their increasingly drunk shenanigans.

Jace glances at him, eyes narrowing in suspicion, before he is turning back towards Alexander and pointing accusingly, “I bet Magnus does something, so you don’t get drunk either.”

There is a pause.

Then, Alexander just scoffs. “Like what?” he asks sardonically, so very clearly just humoring Jace. “Getting me non-alcoholic drinks while feeding the rest of you alcohol to get you drunk?”

“Exactly!” Jace points at him in an obvious eureka moment.

“And you got to that conclusion just because I can drink more than you can?” Alexander sighs exasperatedly as his parabatai’s antics, humor and definite teasing in his eyes as he does.

“He got you there, man,” Simon comments from the other end of the table.

Isabelle giggles. “Why don’t you go get the next round then, Jace,” she grins. “Make sure Magnus doesn’t order Alec anything non-alcoholic. You can even watch him drink it to make sure he isn’t ‘cheating’.”

“I will,” Jace nods all importantly, expression perfectly serious as though he were off on a particularly difficult demon hunting mission but his eyes bright with laughter, before he is already out of his seat and off towards the bar.

Magnus just grins to himself.

He truly finds it more than a little entertaining how this lot still sometimes forgets that magic isn’t all colorful lights and flashy effects, that it’s only ever visible if he makes it so. That he is more than able to change any drink in Alexander’s glass without anyone who might be watching the wiser.

Which is admittedly exactly what Magnus has been doing ever since their third date.

When Magnus realized that no matter which cocktail or drink he put in front of his Shadowhunter, Alexander simply didn’t seem to enjoy the taste much. And once Magnus noticed, he made sure to only ever offer Alexander something to drink that he would actually enjoy.

Sure, his husband appreciates some wine with dinner just fine, or even some smooth rum to round out a dessert. But never if it’s just about the drink itself and never any of the more bitter varieties of drinks.

And let him just say, he finds it utterly adorable that his husband – who doesn’t even really seem to know what self-indulgence is – has such a liking for the sweet, fruity, emphatically non-alcoholic drinks that Magnus prepares for him, just enough alcohol in them to still give it that characteristic slight zing while drinking but barely a fraction of the alcohol content those drinks usually have.

Not that Alexander is aware of that.

You know, since Magnus might never have actually gotten around to telling Alexander about the drink altering, never actually let him in on the fact that he is getting the barely alcoholic versions of the drinks Magnus offers. At first, he hadn’t pointed it out because Alexander had still been so very skittish about everything to do with dating and Magnus just hadn’t wanted to add another reason for him to feel anxious about their dates, instead just quietly changing the drinks into something more suitable to Alexander’s taste.

And afterwards, he just kind of… forgot? Somehow he never got around to telling Alexander, and by now changing whatever is put in front of his husband into something he knows he will enjoy has become almost automatic, something he doesn’t even really think about anymore.

Jace reappears at their table with a tray full of drinks, something for everyone on it, but making sure to hand Alexander his drink personally, humorous, weighty challenge in his eyes as he does.

Magnus just leans back into his seat, grinning slightly at the scene in front of him, the movement distracting everyone from the way he smoothly twirls the fingers of his free hand on the table top in a way that looks perfectly natural, magic immediately jumping to his call, doing his bidding, even as he lets his other hand curl a little further around Alexander’s, fingers sliding together smoothly, fitting perfectly together.

As they always do.

+++

Alec lifts his glass to mockingly toast Jace, even as he gives no indication of the familiar feeling of Magnus’ magic flittering along his fingers, towards the glass in his hand, changing his drink, before he ever takes the first sip.

It’s a feeling he has long since gotten familiar with, the feeling of Magnus’ magic sparking along his skin for various reasons.

Sometimes it’s for something frivolous like better tailoring Alec’s clothes, sometimes it’s for peace-of-mind because Magnus is worried about a particularly dangerous mission he is about to go on and he decides to add another protective ward to cover Alec’s skin, sometimes it’s in the bedroom for any of the hundred ways that Magnus so likes to turn Alec utterly incoherent with in bed.

And sometimes – even rather regularly – it’s to alter his drink, getting rid of the alcohol, turning it into something Alec will actually enjoy drinking. As Magnus has been doing almost ever since they started going out.

Not that either of them has ever brought it up or discussed it. There is a very real possibility that Magnus doesn’t even realize just how perfectly aware Alec is of his magical drink altering ways, how his warlock husbands always turns Alec’s drinks into their non-alcoholic versions instead.

Alec just doesn’t enjoy the taste of alcohol, so _of course_ Magnus would make sure any drink put in front of him would be more to his taste. Because that’s just what Magnus does.

Alec lets his eyes find his husband.

Magnus who is leaning happily into his side, the fingers of their free hands intertwined on his thigh. Magnus who is already watching him, lips tilting into a smile, eyes warm and forever focused on Alec. Magnus who only reacts to his obvious switch in focus by letting his lips tilt up a little further, something coy tucked into its edges, while his thumb runs slow, almost hypnotizing circles on the soft skin of Alec’s wrist.

He simply ignores Jace’s huff from across the table – likely at how easily Alec has gotten distracted, how he doesn’t even look away from Magnus for so much as a single instant once he has caught his gaze – and Alec just as easily ignores Clary and Izzy’s demented giggling and romantic swooning for the same reason.

Instead, Alec takes another sip of what turns out to taste far more like sparkling apple juice than the beer Jace had originally gotten him.

_Yeah, much better._

He feels his own lips tilting up, can’t help but lean over slightly to press a soft kiss to Magnus’ cheek, lingers there for just a moment, hides his smile against his husband’s warm skin as he does so.

He much prefers Magnus’ version of the drinks anyway.

**Author's Note:**

> Fluff. That's it. And I'm so ridiculously proud for finally managing to write something without any worldbuilding whatsoever in it XD
> 
> Would love to know what you think :D


End file.
